Spring is here and our lawns are growing Irish green. Clover is popping up all over. Any day now my facebook friend, Melinda, will start her seasonal picture-posting—sharing her four-leaf clover discoveries. All she has to do is step outside, look down and “voilà!” there’s another talisman beckoning as though to say, “Choose me. I’m lucky!”

​According to folklore traditions, the four clover leaves represent different attributes: hope, faith, love and luck. The Druids carried four-leaf clovers as Celtic charms. I have a few clovers I’ve found and plucked over the years and pressed between the pages of random books. When I open a dusty volume from our bookshelves, if I unexpectedly discover an old clover, I instantly think, “Oh, good! Luck is on the way!” With childlike anticipation, I wait to see in what manifestation my luck will appear. The arrival always delights me.

​Lots of luck arrives recently as I answer the phone, “Good morning, artCentral. This is Alice Lynn. How may I help you?” The pleasant voice of a gentleman caller inquires, “Do you teach blacksmithing classes? We’ve just returned from Branson,” he explains, “My stepson was intrigued with the working blacksmith we saw there.”

I confess, “We’ve taught many innovative classes at artCentral’s summer artCamp for kids, but blacksmithing has never been a part of our curriculum.” As consolation I offer, “Please give me your name and number. I’ll call you if we come up with a blacksmithing class for this July’s artCamp.” To my many, many phone contacts I add this stepdad’s phone number captioned as “Blacksmithing Class Request”.

When my husband, David, comes home from work, we talk enthusiastically about this intriguing new idea—the art of blacksmithing to be explored, the lessons to be learned and the skills to gained by artCentral’s young campers. We ponder and discuss the challenges of finding an instructor and getting the approval of my board of directors and the funds to cover the costs. I put this class possibility on my ponder-further-later list to be intentionally, ritualistically considered.

David and I love the rituals that sustain and animate the balance of our beautiful, shared life. We begin every morning and end each evening moving through our simple practices. We speak and audio record our intentions for our day, then we ring our Tibetan singing bowl, release our intentions and send them on their way.

We’re repeatedly discovering in this first year of marriage that when we ponder, talk positively with confidence and intend good things we always get Lucky! Lucky! Lucky! From our spoken and shared intentions beautiful, exciting manifestations happen, like going to buy chicken feed and seeing a notice on the feed store door that leads us to our Australian Shepherd puppy, Lasyrenn (“la-se-wren”, the siren).

Now we have brand new rituals we share with Lasyrenn and her six-year old companion, Chiquita, our Wheaten Terrier Poodle. Having wished for, talked about and intended a nice place to walk our girls, early on a weekend morning, we pile into our white van, affectionately named “Van-Gogh”. Equipped with toys and tethers we make a pilgrimage south to the George Washington Carver National Monument near Diamond, Missouri.

Before making our weekly “walk-about” on the trails through the park, we stop for a hearty breakfast at the Hwy 59 Cafe where we always order and split the Full Bull Rider complete with two giant, plate-sized pancakes, two sausage patties with two eggs easy-over, shredded hash browns made extra crispy plus a side of biscuits and gravy. The servings are not only generous and pocket-happy, the wait and kitchen staffs are always so friendly I feel I’m getting a full meal of déjà vous southern hospitality like what’s reliably served up in my home state of Arkansas.

​On our most recent Hwy 59 Cafe and walk-about outing, we get really, really lucky, lucky, lucky! We should have seen this coming! We’d been given all the signs: the call from the “Blacksmithing Class Requested” step-dad, the cowboy motif of 59’s dining room and the horseshoes hung over their door.

This weekend morning we’re just starting out from Carthage, both puppies riding shotgun between us, when I see a horse trailer passing us and start calling to David, “Remember that number on the side!.” He does remember and repeats the digits for me to dial. I do! Excitedly I tell the nice man that answers, “You just passed us on the freeway! Will you come teach a blacksmithing class for kids at artCentral’s summer artCamp?”

Chris Gregory, owner of Heartland Horseshoeing School outside Lamar, Missouri, explains he’s not in that trailer’s pickup truck. Those are some of his students driving to Oklahoma to test for their official certifications. He’s off somewhere teaching wanna-be-farriers, and “yes” he’ll bring anvils and a forge and teach an artCamp class on Wednesday, July 11th for seven students, ages 12-14. Those seven artCampers are going to be Lucky! Lucky! Lucky! to make real horseshoes to carry home and hang over their doors!